Edinburgh University’s upcoming free course, “Introduction to Astrobiology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life” will open up an exciting new era in the study of extraterrestrial life. According to Jeff Haywood, vice principal of the University of Edinburgh, the number of students for the online course is potentially 100,000 or more. The course reflects the ever increasing global awareness of the possibility of extraterrestrial life and its societal implications.

Over two thousand years ago, the ancient Greeks wondered if other worlds were habitable. In the coming years this question will be experimentally tested. This course is an introduction to astrobiology. It explores the origin and evolution of life on the Earth and its potential to exist elsewhere. Astrobiology addresses compelling questions of wide interest such as: How did life originate on the Earth? Is this an inevitable process and is life common across the Universe? Astrobiology is an interdisciplinary science that bridges fields as diverse as astrophysics, biology, geosciences and chemistry.

The coursewill explore what we know about life’s ability to live in extreme environments on the Earth, we will look at different hypotheses for how it originated. It will look at some of the missions to search for life in our own Solar System and on planets orbiting distant stars,and discuss some of the extreme environments on the Earth that help us understand the limits of life and how life has adapted to cope with extremes. The course willexplore the possibility of intelligent alien life and some of the implications of its detection, and provide a foundation in astrobiology and introduce students to concepts in a diversity of scientific fields.

The course will be taught by Charles Cockell, professor of Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh (image below). He received his doctorate at the University of Oxford and was a National Research Council Associate at the NASA Ames Research Centre. He was a visiting scholar at Stanford University and the University of Arizona. Cockell is currently Director of the UK Centre for Astrobiology and his research interests focus on how microbes survive in extreme environments, including volcanic and impact crater environments.

Cockell is a Senior Editor of the journal, Astrobiology. His popular science books include ‘Impossible Extinction’ (Cambridge University Press), which explores the tenacity of microbes on the Earth, and ‘Space on Earth’ (Macmillan) which looks at the links between environmentalism and space exploration. He is Chair of the Earth and Space Foundation, a non-profit organisation he established in 1994. He was the first Chair of the Astrobiology Society of Britain.

Course Syllabus

Week 1: What is life and what are the definitions of life? What do we know about the origin of life and what are the current hypotheses for how it originated on the Earth?

Week 2: What was the environment of early Earth like when life first emerged and what do we know about life on the earliest Earth? How did life evolve to cope with survival in extreme environments? What have been the major evolutionary transitions of life on the Earth?

Week 3: What are the prospects for life on other planetary bodies in our Solar System and how do we go about searching for it? What conditions are required for a planet to be habitable?

Week 4: How do we search for Earth-like planets orbiting distant stars and how would we detect life on them?

Week 5: What are the possibilities for intelligent life elsewhere? How would be deal with contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence and what would be the impact on society? Who would represent Earth?

The infamous Dr. J says that life will always surprise us in the most interesting ways,and the search for extraterrestrial life will teach us how little we really know. We expect that life will e either a mirror image of us or completely alien and insect like, but the free course that will be offered will, hopefully inspire many to enter into the new field of biology and make some awesome discoveries. Although, like all scientists, like the historical legends of Darwin and Cousteau, the only way that modern
Astrobiologist would make the grand discoveries would be out in the field where alien life will exist.

I've taken an FREE college course Astro-biology Class at Sacramento City College win Professor Liam McDaid back in 2009 or 2010. Same exact course material, just no certificate. There is also no prerequisites for this class. Editor's Note: Why don't we think it's "the same exact course material."

this is what it say on the above messages:
"the number of students for the online course is potentially 100,000 or more."
I guess it is an online course :) Im doubting that too myself. But hoping it is :D